Dear All Greetings from Quito, capital city of Ecuador, and at 2,850 metres above sea level, it’s the second highest capital city in the world (after La Paz, Bolivia, at 3,640m). I arrived here after a comfortable 3.5 hour bus journey from Riobamba on Friday afternoon, although things haven’t really quite turned out as I expected… My plan was to do Quito on Saturday, visit the nearby Cotopaxi volcano on Sunday, and take a trip to the actual equator which runs through Ecuador just north of Quito on Monday. Saturday’s plans went well, but unfortunately I ate something dodgy on Saturday afternoon, and came down with gastroenteritis on Saturday night. I have since been holed up in my lovely room in the Ibis Hotel, giving myself some much-needed down-time and TLC. I feel a little frustrated ... read more

Dear All Greetings once more from the Galapagos Islands! These little gems of land in the Pacific Ocean are just stunners, and I’ve really had the most amazing time here. I am currently writing this one from my fantastic eco-hostel I’m staying in here, about 2km outside of the main town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on the island of San Cristobal, the Cucuve (Mockingbird) Eco-Hostel, surrounded by lovely Galapagos nature and overlooking a beautiful garden with fruit trees. I have indeed found an idyllic lodging in which to spend my four nights on this other main island of the Galapagos, purposefully chosen for its serene and back-to-nature setting. I plan to upload this text onto my blog and publish it when I’m back in Guayaquil tomorrow, however, as the Internet connection here is really not good. ... read more

Dear All Greetings from Ecuador! This is my country number 80 – yay! Quite a significant number really! And as I believe I mentioned in a previous blog entry, if you don’t count the three little countries in the north-east of the continent, this completes my visit of every country in South America!! It is great to be in a new country again, as although I explored new parts of Peru, it didn’t count as another country for me due to my previous visit. It’s hard to believe that although this is quite an epic trip for me, it only adds one country to my list. Still, the Travellers’ Century Club counts the Galapagos Islands as a separate territory to Ecuador, so my total with them will be at 94 – not long until my provisional ... read more

Dear All Greetings from Paracas, a small but wonderful town on the Peruvian desert coast about 4 hours south of Lima. I arrived here on Saturday afternoon, and have had an absolutely incredible time here. These last few days have really been filled with fantastic sights and adventures, really quite unique ones, and have reminded me once more why it is that I travel – to see more and to learn more about this beautiful world that we live in. What a pleasure it has been! So on Saturday morning I bade farewell, temporarily, to my hotel in Lima and took a taxi to the Cruz del Sur bus station south of the city centre. Cruz del Sur is supposed to be the country’s best intercity bus service, and I have to say it has probably ... read more

Dear All Greetings, on the eve of another summer journey! The holidays have arrived, and I have packed my bags once again, ready for a five-and-a-half-week trip to Peru, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, which begins tomorrow – yay! My current system of “Latin America, Africa, Asia” continues, as I return this year to Latin America once again. This will be my fifth time in total in Latin America. In actual fact, it’s a journey that began in the pipeline nearly 20 years ago, in the year 2000 at the tender age of 22, when I felt the world was just waiting to be explored. I had just finished university and took my first teaching job as an English language teacher in Paraguay. During my summer holidays there, I took an epic two-month journey by bus, ... read more